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The Irish Sun
5 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Inside Leinster's boozy celebrations as stars dance on team bus while leaving Croke Park as URC champs
LEINSTER'S players got to bask in a job well done as they partied into the evening following their victory over Bulls in the URC Grand Final. The Blues Advertisement 7 Players got to don eyewear to protest themselves from all over the champagne that was being sprayed around the dressing room Credit: @joetmmcc 7 French international Rabah Slimani captioned this snap with Andrew Porter 'Champions mon frere' Credit: @slim_rab 7 He then led them in a French sing-song on the team bus Credit: @slim_rab 7 They partied into the night at the RDS Credit: @leinsterrugby A forward-inspired victory was largely done in the first half as Jack Conan, Jordie Barrett and Josh van der Flier scored before rookie Fintan Gunne's late try. The crowd of 46,127 - a record attendance for an Irish final in the competition - showed the public interest, as did the smiles of Would everyone of a Leinster persuasion prefer a Champions Cup? Absolutely. But after four years of hurt, and seeing and hearing the pleasure the Leinster-haters out there take from it, it was a win that was savouried. Advertisement Read More On Irish Sport And it was also never in doubt the way they tackled the game and tackled the Bulls, with player of the match Ryan Baird leading by example. Afterwards Cullen insisted his players now deserve to be written up as winners after being written off as failures. After three Champions Cup final losses, it bothered Cullen that his men were being called failures, which is why winning this one mattered so much. He said: 'You get told the losers of the finals are failures. When you get to the last two, I think you should celebrate both. Advertisement Most read in Rugby Union "We've been on the flip side in the past, that the team were failures and I personally don't think that was the case.' But Baird admitted that the final losses of the past had put pressure on Leinster this week. 'Pierre loving retirement' - Peter O'Mahony's wife teases Ireland legend as kids run amok in cute snap He said: 'I found it toughest this week. I felt the pressure. I think a lot of us did. 'But we kept coming back to what got us here, moment by moment, inch by inch, and every time I saw someone else make a tackle, it gave me energy to make another one myself. Advertisement 'It's been a long time coming to win a trophy with this team in front of a full stadium. Last time we did, it was during Covid.' Captain Conan put it down to the team fronting up on the evening. 7 This triumph will act as a welcome tonic to wash out the pain from their Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton 7 Youngster Fintan Gunne got a helping hand in this funny snap Credit: @leinsterrugby Advertisement 7 They had an extra bit of fun by doing a second trophy lift atop the Hogan Stand in true GAA fashion He said: 'It's putting your head where you wouldn't put a shovel. Ultimately, it's a physical game, it's what we teed ourselves up for all week.' Bulls coach Jake White admitted his side ran into a Leinster side that produced their best rugby of the season in the first half. White said: 'We were never going to win that game once they got that 14-0 start. Advertisement 'We got the 40 minutes the Leinster supporters were waiting for the whole season. It was like watching a horror movie, and you hope the ending will be different. 'This was Test-level rugby. Leinster normally have 23 internationals, today they were short, they only had 22. They are a phenomenal team. That is probably the best Leinster team ever.'
BBC News
19 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Leinster ease past Bulls to win ninth URC title
United Rugby Championship final: Leinster: 32 (19)Tries: Conan, Barrett, Van der Flier, Gunne Cons: Prendergast 2, R Byrne Pens: Prendergast 2Bulls: 7 (0)Try: Van der Merwe Con: Goosen Leinster won the United Rugby Championship for the first time since 2021 as they produced a dominant display to beat Bulls 32-7 at Croke Cullen's side raced ahead through early tries from Jack Conan, the departing Jordie Barrett and Josh van der Flier, whilst rendering the Bulls scoreless at half-time with a terrific defensive Akker van der Merwe's try had briefly sparked hopes of a comeback from the unusually lacklustre Bulls, but Fintan Gunne crossed late to help Leinster to a resounding have now won nine URC titles, whilst the Bulls have lost three finals in the five years they have appeared in the competition. Hosts storm into the lead Leinster were on the front foot from the off and immediately won a pair of penalties for the scrum collapsing and the Bulls not rolling away. In typically clinical fashion, they took this early chance as captain Conan peeled off the back of the maul and powered over. Sam Prendergast added the extras and Leinster were seven up after as many Bulls were perhaps fortunate not to go a man down after Harold Vorster made contact with Joe McCarthy's face on the ground after a bit of an off-the-ball scuffle. However, Leinster did not let that get in their heads as, just a couple of minutes later, they returned Johan Goosens' free-kick with McGrath – in for late drop-out Jamison Gibson-Park – chipped off the base of the ruck on halfway and Barrett hacked on before winning the foot race for a superb improvised try on his last appearance in White's men were shell-shocked and couldn't get a foothold at all. The usually composed Willie Le Roux's bewildering chip in his own 22 did not cost his side at the time but summed up their inefficiencies. Leinster's third try arrived soon after though and it was another Lion, van der Flier making the most of a powerful maul after McGrath had been taken out off the ball following a powerful Dan Sheehan three scores down, the South Africans had to respond and they did. However, despite two lengthy spells of pressure in the last 10 minutes of the first half, they were rebuffed by a wall of blue. The first ending in another poor Le Roux kick and the second with a forward pass from Goosens right on the whistle. Bulls fail to muster response Leinster built on that morale-boosting defence as Prendergast knocked over a simple three-pointer four minutes after the break to open up a 22-0 lead. However, the Bulls were never going to go down without a fight and were saved the indignation of being shut out as replacement hooker van der Merwe crashed over from close range off a maul and Goosens added the this setback, Leinster never lost composure and neither did Prendergast as, after missing a relatively simple penalty, he knocked over another just moments later, nudging Leinster further ahead at the sun finally began to shine on an-otherwise wet and muggy day in Dublin, replacement scrum half Gunne – only drafted into the squad on Saturday morning – hit a perfect wraparound run to find a gap in the tiring Bulls defence and score a lovely try. It was converted by Ross Byrne who got a big round of applause on his final appearance for his the clock ticked down, Bulls captain Ruan Nortje spilled the ball with space ahead of him and promptly came up lame with cramp to sum up his side's disappointing Bulls lost a second final in succession having fallen to Glasgow last year but it was Leinster's day as they got over their final hoodoo. Line-ups Leinster: J O'Brien; T O'Brien, Ringrose, Barrett, Lowe; Prendergast, McGrath; Porter, Sheehan, Clarkson, McCarthy, Ryan, Baird, Van der Flier, Conan (captain)Replacements: Kelleher, Boyle, Slimani, Snyman, Deegan, Gunne, R Byrne, Le Roux; Moodie, Kriel, Vorster, De Klerk; Goosen, Papier; Wessels, Grobbelaar, Louw, Wiese, Van Heerden, Van Staden, Nortje (captain), Van der Merwe, Tshakweni, Smith, Kiersten, Carr, Burger, Johannes, Williams.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Live URC Final updates: Leinster look to end silverware drought against the Bulls at Croke Park
URC Final: Leinster v Bulls, Croke Park, 5pm 11 minutes ago Matchday squads LEINSTER: Jimmy O'Brien; Tommy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Luke McGrath; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (capt). Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Fintan Gunne, Ross Byrne, Jamie Osborne. BULLS: Willie le Roux; Canon Moodie, David Kriel, Harold Vorster, Sebastian de Klerk; Johan Goosen, Embrose Papier; Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar, Wilco Louw; Cobus Wiese, JF van Heerden; Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje (capt), Marcell Coetzee. Replacements: Akker van der Merwe, Alulutho Tshakweni, Mornay Smith, Jannes Kirsten, Nizaam Carr, Zak Burger, Keagan Johannes, Devon Williams. 4 minutes ago Hello and welcome to the Irish Times blog, John O'Sullivan here and I'll take you through the afternoon's URC final between Leinster and Bulls at Croke Park. Some early news and it's not good from a Leinster perspective, scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park is out, Luke McGrath is promoted to the starting team with academy prospect Fintan Gunne promoted to the replacements. Leinster's haven't clarified as yet the reason for Gibson-Park's absence, but he carried an injury from the win over the Glasgow Warriors and wasn't able to train fully this week. They announced the news on their official X feed this morning. The Ireland scrumhalf is due to travel with the Lions to Australia. The bookmakers still make the Irish province 12-point favourites, which maybe a slight surprise given the morning bulletin from UCD. In other news there are roadworks on the Sean Moore Road in Ringsend, the one that leads to the East Link bridge. A one-way system is in operation. Four hours before the match it was chaos. Whoever decides these things where the majority of supporters travelling from Wicklow, Wexford, and Kilkenny as well as South Dublin might like to elaborate why.
